NEW YORK—Spanning over 12 city blocks, college students, activists and concerned New Yorkers formed a human chain through Midtown Manhattan last Saturday, literally and figuratively connecting the Chinese government and the Sudanese government.
The chain stretched from the "Chinese Mission to the United Nations" on 35th Street to the Sudanese Mission on 47th, and was part of activities held to draw attention to China's increasing support and aid to the Sudanese government—a government that the U.S. Congress and U.S. State Department have said is committing genocide.
"With this human chain, we are exposing the Chinese government for its complicity towards the genocide in Darfur," said Katie Savin, a student at New York University and co-organizer of the event. "The Chinese government, in order to safeguard its interest in Sudanese oil, has not only turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by the Sudanese government but has offered its genocidal trading partner protection in the United Nations' Security Council."
Chinese leader Hu Jintao visited Sudan last month, canceling $70 million in Sudanese debt to China and giving the Sudanese government a $13 million interest-free loan to build a new presidential palace.
Reports out of Sudan indicate that under the direction of the Sudanese government, Arab militias have killed tens of thousands of people—if not hundreds of thousands—and displaced millions from their homes in the Darfur region of Sudan.
"China is obviously aware of what is going in Sudan," said Savin.
Seventy percent of Sudan's oil is exported to China. Harvard University and Yale University, among others, have divested millions of dollars from Chinese companies like PetroChina that essentially pump money into the Sudanese government.
Globally conscious college students from as far away as Boston, Washington, DC and Philadelphia took buses in order to support the event and voice their concern.
Tufts University student and co-organizer Sabina Carlson came from Boston. "Our generation knows like no other that our world is inextricably interconnected. Today we can no longer pretend that the suffering in Darfur has no effect on our lives, and that our lives can have no effect on the suffering in Darfur," she said.
New York State and City politicians spoke at a rally held in support of the cause.
"New York City, as the global capitol, can send a strong, clear message that we will not support any companies that fund the genocide in Darfur," said Queens Councilman Eric Gioia.
New York Assembly members Darryl C. Towns and James F. Brennan and State Senators Joseph E. Robach and John L. Sampson are introducing companion legislation in the New York State government that would divest state employees' pension funds from companies that do business directly with the Sudanese government. The divestment would only be from companies that fail to benefit civilians outside of government-controlled circles and fail to tale any serious corporate action. It would do nothing to harm New York's investment returns, they promised.
In addition, this targeted model only hits businesses who have a business relationship with the Sudanese government or government-created project, fail to benefit civilians outside of government controlled circles, fail to reasonably address the genocide through corporate action, and have proven unresponsive to repeated attempts at shareholder engagement, and would do nothing to harm New York's investment returns.
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